Read a Passage at the Leo Bradley Library Book Fair

A book fair took place today at the Leo Bradley Library and its aim was to encourage reading. The National Library Service has the fair annually with the hopes that by motivating youths to read, the practice will be passed on through generations. News Five’s Delahnie Bain reports on the event that saw an impressive turnout by students.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

In its continued efforts to promote reading, the National Library Service today held its eleventh annual Book Fair at the Leo Bradley Library. The event was opened to the general public, but Senior Library Assistant Sarah Castillo says their main target was students.

Sarah Castillo, Senior Library Assistant

“The main purpose of the book fair is mainly to emphasize the importance of reading. Everybody today is not picking up a book as we should have it in society. So this is what we do, we show them how books can come alive and how important it is for them to read.”

Delahnie Bain

“I noticed that you’ve reached out particularly to students, why is that?”

Sarah Castillo

“Well, we all know that if we start early that’s the best way to start. Teach them from now to love books and later on when they grow up, they will teach their children and their children will teach other children.”

While it is a book fair, there was much more planned for the students than just reading.

Sarah Castillo

“We have a couple competitions planned; we have a coloring competition, we have a poster competition, story reading and story writing competition. W e also have the publishers; they are showcasing books, interesting good books that they can read, fun books that they can read. We have also our food stall today and we also have Grace giving free promotional samples of some items.”

Delahnie Bain

“So it’s a fun way to get them into reading habit.”

Sarah Castillo

“Yes it’s a fun way to get them into the reading habit; pushing them and encouraging them to start from now.”

According to Castillo, even though picking up a book is as popular as it used to be, the continuous support for the event has been encouraging.

Sarah Castillo

“I can tell you since I’m here, it has been steady. In fact not steady but growing but growing because we are always out there. you might not see us on the TV or the radio but we’re always out there trying to emphasize reading and trying to push reading. So every year we have the teachers—some of them even call and ask us when the book fair will happen, what date and so on. So we do see a great number of increased support. We sent out a letter to the entire school community here in Belize and some in Hattieville, Boom, Ladyville surrounding areas. So we’re expecting a really huge crowd today.”

The library also used the event to recruit more members for its Reading is Essential Program.

Sarah Castillo

“We also have a great program, a reading rewards program called Reading Is Essential and we’re inviting all children to take advantage of it. You just need to come into the library—you don’t have to have a library card—you can just come and register for the program, it’s called RIE. You get a book right there and then to take out. all we ask is that you write a short comment and after four books, the greatest reward ever, you will receive a free book for yourself.”

Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.